What's in a Horoscope?

For as long as I can remember, media sources ranging from trashy tabloids to the Snapchat news feature (now the modern equivalent of a trashy tabloid) have been offering me weekly life advice based off of what time of the year I was born.

I am, of course, talking about zodiac signs. Twelve signs that categorize all people into distinct personality types.

Unsure whether you’re a Gemini or a Sagittarius? Take a look at the chart below, fully-equipped with all you need to know from your element to basic personality traits.

Sound just like you? Didn’t give you a reaction at all? For those on both sides, stay with me here. I’m not about to sing astrology’s praises or debunk the beliefs of those who religiously check their horoscope. Not yet at least.

This is because I still have a few questions for astrology. Namely, questions regarding my zodiac. Since I was born in mid-February, that makes me an Aquarius. My sister is also an Aquarius. So is my brother. And mother. And grandmother.

Yet none of us are even remotely alike. How can this be? Have I been reading my sign incorrectly this entire time?

Maybe BuzzFeed can answer some of my questions.

After some contemplation, I’ve come to the conclusion that I must have been given the wrong sign. Fortunately, BuzzFeed houses all the quizzes I could ever need to learn what my proper star sign should be. Just typing in ‘zodiac’ in the website’s search bar delivers dozens of quizzes claiming they can guess my zodiac with 100% accuracy just by answering a few simple questions.

I’m not sure I entirely understand their methods, however. What part of ordering from Taco Bell is supposed to help them guess what time of year I was born? And considering I haven’t eaten anything from Taco Bell in nearly a decade, I remain skeptical.

Even so, after “ordering” a chicken quesadilla and some chips and queso it somehow knew I was an Aquarius, anyway.

But I’m still not convinced of the power invested in the stars, and taking more quizzes just won’t do it for me. Fortunately, there are plenty of people right here at Central DeWitt who can offer me deeper insight. One such person can even provide me with a free reading.

So I talked to Alexa Finley, Central DeWitt Sophomore and novice astrologist.

She claims that there’s more to your personality beyond just the one sign you were born under. Using my exact date of birth (down to the minute) as well as my birth location, Alexa can use a website to dig deeper into various facets of my personality and paint a larger image of who I am. This is called a birth chart.

Here’s mine:

It may look confusing, and that’s because it is. Even after spending some time trying to make sense of it, I found it too dense to digest in its entirety.

Fortunately, I have Alexa here to guide the way. She directed me to look at the icons within the circle. Closest to the outer ring are the symbols for various planets (plus the sun and moon), right below being the zodiac sign it best lines up with.

Right off the bat, I notice most planets line up with Aquarius. This makes sense; I’m an Aquarius. Other zones are completely blank, meaning my personality isn’t strongly influenced by any of those signs (sorry to any Virgos out there–looks like we won’t have much in common).

As you might have interpreted by giving my chart a look at yourself, the three signs that define my personality the most are Aquarius (sun), Pisces (rising sun), and Scorpio (moon).

But what do these mean? Alexa gave me the breakdown:

“Your sun sign is what you already know about yourself. This is also the way you perceive your personality to be like. Your rising sign is how people see you but how you don’t know yourself. And your moon sign is your inner emotions and how you feel.”

Pisces is a zodiac sign defined as a highly-sensitive dreamer. According to Alexa’s interpretation, a Pisces as my rising sign means I can come off to people as idealistic, empathetic, and probably a bit of a crybaby.

That sounds about right.

Having a more aloof sign like Aquarius in my sun spot means I often times don’t feel as emotional as people think I am. A Scorpio moon sign makes this puzzle even more complicated, as this sign is defined by intense emotions that fluctuate widely. These emotions shift the scale compared to Pisces, being driven more by negative feelings such as jealousy and anger.

So, does this mean I come off as emotional without realizing, don’t see myself as emotional, but am in reality constantly on the verge of flipping out?

I think I’m confused again.

If these three readings sound contradictory to you, they did to me, too. But Alexa found a way to bring some order to this celestial chaos:

“Depending on the way that you were raised, things can be different. These are clean-slate personalities, your soul’s core essence. It builds on it throughout your life.”

According to her, I may not relate to some of these descriptions simply because they aren’t as relevant to me anymore.

I didn’t mention these yet, but there are a few more planets that build up my “blank-slate” personally–albeit to a lesser degree. These vary from Mercury, which dictates my communication skills (of which I was an Aquarius once again–one with strong opinions but impartial judgments) to planets like Venus, which controls the way I manage relationships (as an Aries here, I’m apparently a bit demanding), and so on. These, for me, were even more hit-or-miss. I’m a victim to my own bias from time to time, and I’d consider myself more of a pushover than anything.

But does this mean I should completely write-off my birth chart and consider the thing “debunked?” I suppose that’s one option, but I don’t feel right in writing it off just yet.

Especially considering Alexa understands its flaws just as much as astrology’s most stringent opponents.

“Take everything with a grain of salt. If you really think that the stars are going to rule your life, then you’re crazy.”

In the end, Alexa’s interest in astrology has followed her since middle school for a simple reason: “People love to hear about themselves, and I love to do it. It’s like a puzzle, and I like to connect the dots.”

And to that, I’d say I agree.

Like many people, I too was drawn to the self-indulgence of hearing a person (and by extension, the website she was using) talk about myself. It doesn’t matter the level of confidence one has about who they are; hearing others speak about us is almost universally-compelling.

As I listened to Alexa “describe” me from point to point, I can still recall the satisfying “aha” moments when something she said lined up with my exact interpretation of myself. Other times when the reading challenged my personal image, I could twist those words in a way I could relate to.

Just like a puzzle, in a sense.

She understands why many people are hesitant to give astrology any merit even as a pseudo-science. But there is potential for astrology’s use in self-development.

“I think it’s insightful and it relates to you–especially if it’s negative. You can take that and try to make yourself better in that way. But other than that, it’s not a self-help book.”

Alexa admitted to having a really bad temper. While she would never blame her shortcomings on astrology, she said it was eye-opening to see her own negative traits described through her birth chart. “Then I saw I had Aquarius in my sun, and a water sign in my moon. This made sense, and it helped me know what I needed to work on.”

But who’s to say that we are the best judge of our character? Then again, who’s to say the planets in the sky know any more than we do? Whether we choose to place any merit into vague celestial personality quizzes, Alexa says, is really up to the individual: “You can make things relatable to yourself, but no one’s forcing you to take it seriously.”

It’s sort of like hypnosis; it isn’t going to work if you don’t want it to.

So if you’re like me and are still on the fence as to what to think about your zodiac sign or what you’re even supposed to do next time there’s a full moon, the best advice I have is to not think so hard.

Do I really believe the way the stars and planets were aligned the moment I was born had any influence on my character? Probably not–though the idea is nice.

Whether or not your daily horoscope has any scientific merit is really beside the point. But maybe it’s worth taking a look at if only to humor the idea. You never know–maybe you’ll be surprised and learn some things about yourself hidden in the stars.

Curious to see what the planets say about you? Get a birth chart reading of your own here.

- Gretchen Lenth